Hi Svensett, here's something I posted over on Phonearena and it seems to be relevant to your search. Not sure if you decided yet but this was my experience, hope it helps (also of note, mine was stock, not rooted, wonder if my experience vs Breadnatty has something to do with that). Hope to hear which way you went!
(posted on Phonearena)
I just finished a 3-week trial with the G2 and, while in most ways I was blown away by the phone, there was one major issue that forced me to return it, and it had a dramatic impact on the battery as well.
The phone struggles significantly with GPS. Let me explain. I heard this argument before getting the phone so made sure to run this through its paces. I tested it in an open highway environment (southern california), an urban environment (downtown Chicago) and a mountain environment (socal mountains), here were my results:
- Open highway- no problem at all...as long as the phone was placed at the windshield it would quickly acquire and track
- Urban environment- pretty significant issues with accuracy & acquiring satellites, would often take a full minute to acquire and even once locked in, it would often put me on the adjacent street or going in the wrong direction. I was on foot here so no car roof to impede.
- Mountain environment- HUGE issues, often wouldn't acquire at all or take many minutes to acquire and then lose signal intermittently.
I can forgive the mountain situation as cell signal wasn't ideal and frankly dedicated GPS units can sometimes struggle, though I should note that my car GPS had no issues in that environment (albeit with the advantage of a much stronger antennae built into the car).
However, the urban result was not acceptable and I'll tell you why, I had just switched from my moto X to the G2 in downtown chicago, and the X was DEAD ON, acquired in seconds, and was basically 100% accurate.
But back to the point of this article, the one thing I noticed right away with GPS is that it absolutely kills the battery of this phone. I compared battery life with GPS on for both the G2 and the Moto X and the X actually lasted LONGER than the G2 when actively using GPS, that's insane. I imagine it has something to do with the overall signal strength of the X, which dominated the G2 as well, but I can't technically validate that theory. I also noticed Youtube streaming chomped away at the G2, but again, not surprising so no knock there.
I want to be clear, coming from an S3 & Moto X, I wanted this phone to do well, in no way am I an LG-hater, and in fact I can't wait fro the G3 to see if this gets resolved, but it's just too critical to ignore.
Of note, the G2 obliterated the S3 in every area, including GPS as it is notoriously bad on the S3. I chose to not keep the Moto X because it's just too small, and after using and LOVING the G2 I'm glad I returned it, but now I'm left with only a couple of options: try the Droid Maxx or wait for the S5/G3 and hope for the best.
Sorry this is so long, but if it helps one person make a decision it's worth it. My reco, if you don't care about GPS then you can do no better than the G2, it's a beast and a blast. If GPS is vital to you (as it is for me), seriously consider waiting or having a shot with Moto.
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